Catherine Easton

Biography

Catherine Easton brings a diverse range of experiences and skills to her position as a senior lecturer in speech pathology at CSU. Since completing her undergraduate degrees in Music and Arts (German and Linguistics) at Melbourne University in 1999, she has engaged in community-based work as a linguist in Papua New Guinea and a speech pathologist in Early Childhood Intervention in Australia. She gained her PhD for a thesis entitled 'Discourses of Orthography Development: community-based practice in Milne Bay (Papua New Guinea)' based on her experience of supporting remote communities in Papua New Guinea to develop writing systems for their oral languages. Her commitment to working alongside others to achieve their goals was further developed through her Speech Pathology clinical experience in Early Childhood Intervention where her role included family support as well as providing more traditional speech pathology services. Catherine is committed to critically reflecting on her own practice and that of the disciplines she works in, with the aim of facilitating cultural and socially responsive language and speech pathology practice, as is evidenced in her current research into collaborative practice between speech pathologists and early childhood educators, the impact of language attitudes on clinical reasoning of speech pathologists, and the development of skills in online teaching. Catherine has recently taken on the position of Discipline Lead for Speech Pathology at CSU. She undertakes this role while teaching into both the undergraduate and masters programs.

Research Interest

Pathology